


Pup and Grump's Movie Night

by rivlee



Series: Live Fast, Die Old [10]
Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-10
Updated: 2013-01-10
Packaged: 2017-11-24 09:02:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/632700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once a month, Duro and Crixus set aside a day for some bonding and movie watching.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pup and Grump's Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amorekay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amorekay/gifts).



> For Kay who wanted a ficlet of Duro and Crixus being bros.

Duro always secretly thought of Crixus as his legit adult friend. In a lot of ways, Crixus was like another older brother for him. The difference was Crixus trusted him enough to _allow_ him the privilege of fucking up on his own. If shit started getting bad, he’d intervene, but unlike Agron he wouldn’t shut it down right from the go. Crixus got that sometimes a guy just needed to get a little drunk and throw some punches. 

There was a level of trust going out for drinks with Crixus that Duro didn’t have with many of his other acquaintances. He knew if it got too out of hand Crixus would see him home safe and only draw on him with non-permanent marker. They were both in different places, more stable places, than when they met five years ago. They’d both been through some shit since and come out the better. Duro knew he was one of the few people Crixus actually called a friend and meant it; it was its own sort of honor and Duro made sure Crixus knew he appreciated it. 

They didn’t get a chance to hang out as much as they should, not with Naevia’s career finally starting to take off and Duro’s schedule weighed down with more events and appearances at Auctus’ side. Still, they did have a night like this at least once a month; Pup and Grump’s Sports Movie Fest. Agron fucking hated sports movies; he once fell asleep during _Miracle_ and Duro didn’t talk to him for a full _three hours_ in retaliation. Naevia preferred psychological thrillers and while she’d sit down and watch _Hoosiers_ she’d question the historical accuracy of everything. Sometimes you just needed to watch _Rudy_ and not have reality rain down on the movie-watching parade. 

“I don’t know if I trust you and Crixus alone in here,” Auctus said as he looked around the back bedroom off his workspace. “There are welding tools within a hundred feet of you.”

Duro let his feet sway off the ground as he leaned back on one of the drafting tables. Auctus was just slightly paranoid about leaving Duro around possible open flame sources since Agron shared the story about his slight explosion in chemistry class. He tried to implode the can like their teacher said; it wasn’t Duro’s fault science was against him. Besides, it was over seven years ago. 

“It’s either let us use the one here, or we take over the sleeping space in the studio.”

Auctus’ glare was answer enough. That was _their_ space.

“Or,” Duro said, “you deal with us watching _Remember the Titans_ while you and Kore have your brother-sister bonding dinner.”

Auctus shrugged. “It’s almost worth it to see the drunken laughing, dancing, singing, and bawling that will surely happen.” He made a face. “You’ll rile Moose up though, which will bring Gannicus, and I like to limit his time with Kore.”

“They’re both consenting adults,” Duro sing-songed.

Auctus’ reply was stopped by the arrival of Crixus.

“Pup, please tell me the plan for tonight doesn’t involve tetanus.”

_Pup_? Auctus mouthed. 

Duro grinned. “Don’t hate on my nickname. And don’t think about calling me that. He gets to call me pup, you get to call me chickadee, and Nasir gets to call me Jackass McBastard.”

“Nasir wins over us all,” Crixus said. He dropped a bag of snacks into Duro’s lap. “You remembered the beer this time?”

“I think the fruit punch did us well last month, but yeah, got it,” he said. “You got the dvd?”

Crixus patted his jacket. “Special Edition with deleted scenes and commentary. You ready, pup?”

“Let’s do this, grump,” Duro said. He hopped off the table and kissed Auctus’ cheek. “Go make yourself all nice and presentable for your sister.”

Auctus nodded. “Don’t burn the building down while I’m in the shower. That would be embarrassing.” He squeezed Duro’s side before sliding out past Crixus. 

Duro noticed he left the door opened and shook his head. “The trust placed in us is astounding.”

Crixus looked around the workspace. “I’m sure the equipment here is worth more than your life.”

Duro nodded. “Having spied the insurance on the tools, you don’t even know. So, ready to do this?”

Crixus pulled out two hidden packets of Kleenex. “We got this covered.”

********************

Six beers, two hours, one bag of chips, and all the Kleenex later, _Ain’t No Mountain High Enough_ played right before the end credits. Duro wiped away the last of his totally manly tears and punched Crixus in the leg.

“What the fuck?” Crixus asked.

“We normally hold this on the third Saturday of the month, so what the fuck gives with an off-schedule meeting? Don’t you usually keep this weekend for taking Barca out to the gym and beating the shit out of each other?”

Crixus laughed. “So many people think you’re just some stupid fucking kid. Hell, you think that about yourself. There’s no hiding shit from you, Duro. You always know when someone’s off.”

Duro grinned. “I’m usually not too much of an asshole to point it out. What’s up?”

Crixus ran his hands through his hair and took a moment to collect his thoughts. He sat back with a long, drawn-out sight. “I talked to my bosses over at the university. They say I can’t take another sabbatical so soon after the last. So, I either trust someone else to manage Naevia’s next tour or I quit my job. We own the house, the café makes its own money, but fuck, we had plans, you know, for the future. My salary isn’t much, but it was a security blanket, you know. I just don’t know what to do at this point. Naevia will support whatever I decide. Either way I feel like I’m losing. I want to be with her on her tours, to help her work on material and see all those stupid podunk towns and truck stops with her. I love seeing the crowd fall for her just as hard as I did. I’m so fucking proud of her and all she’s doing; I want to be there to support that, but I love my job. So what do I do, pup?”

“Skip out on the next tour and join all the ones that fall in line with the summer and winter breaks? Unless they’ve got you teaching during the summer sessions,” Duro said.

Crixus nodded. “They do, to make up for the time I took off last fall.”

“Well, fuck, grump, you’re screwed.”

Crixus slapped the back of Duro’s head. “There’s the support I needed.”

Duro chuckled. He looked at the worry lines pulling at Crixus’ face. It really was a major concern for them. Naevia had gone on tour without him before; she hated every last second of it. They weren’t that co-dependent, it was just you got used to sleeping next to someone. It was hard enough sleeping in hotel rooms; add in the completely unnerving feeling of something missing, of your whole life being off-center, it made the lonely months of tour even worse. 

“We’ll find a way bro,” he promised. “Or a tour manager. Either way, we’ll combine our powers or some shit and work it out.”

Crixus nodded. He didn’t have to say thank you, it was there in his eyes. He just picked up the remote. “Again?”

Duro nodded and sat back for the second show.


End file.
